With a focus on understanding divine mercy, this episode challenges believers to recognize the contrast between past and present lives. Rabbi Schneider beautifully narrates how we were transformed from children of wrath into recipients of God’s endless grace. Together, let’s uncover how God’s grace empowers us to break free from our former bondage and embrace a future filled with divine kindness and purpose.
00:00:01 Introduction to Discovering the Jewish Jesus
Hello and welcome to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. I’m Dustin Roberts, your host today as Rabbi Schneider explains what it means to be alive in Messiah. If we’re not conscious of God’s hand over our life, then we can easily think that we’re the ones fully in control, making our own choices, following our own paths. But really, how many of us are just walking around spiritually unaware? Well, today, Rabbi Schneider guides us through Ephesians 2 and shares with us the depths between our former state compared to God’s sovereign intervention. And to learn more about Rabbi or this ministry, visit us at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And now here’s Rabbi with his powerful lesson on seeing God’s mercy in your life.
SPEAKER 01 :
We are getting into a very heavy duty passage today, beloved ones. We’ve already been through chapter one completely, and now we’re beginning chapter two. Remember, the grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God abides forever. I think there’s a lot of people that are sitting in churches and they’ve never been taught this type of material before. So let’s dig in right now. Ephesians two, verse one. Paul is speaking to believers Paul is speaking to those that are born again. Paul just got telling us in chapter one that God saved us and forgave us through the blood of Jesus, and then he sealed us by the Holy Spirit. So Paul is talking to believers, not unbelievers here. Listen to what he says, verse one, chapter two. And you, speaking to us, the church, were dead. You were dead, spiritually dead, in your trespasses and sins. I remember shortly after the Lord saved me, I had a vision of the night and it was horrendous. I saw myself laying on this hospital gurney. I was as dead as dead could be, but somehow I was still alive. It was so horrendous. There was such a stench, a spiritual stench to it. I mean, I think the Lord was telling me that’s the state I was in before he saved me. I didn’t see myself as dead, but spiritually we stink. Paul said you were dead This is not just a metaphor, beloved. He’s not making just an illustrative point. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. He said, in which you formally walked. according to the course of this world. That’s how dangerous it is to be conformed to this world. Paul said, that’s the way that you lived before you were born again. That’s the way you lived before God saved you, you lived according to the course of this world. But isn’t it a nightmare that too many of God’s people are calling themselves Christians, but they’re still living according to the course of this world? in which you formerly walked, he said, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. I repeat myself a lot, but it’s because I want some of these things to really sink in. It’s easy just to keep talking and things don’t sink in. So listen to this again. He said that we used to be dead. And in that state, he said, we were living according to the course of this world, according to the natural, according to the way the world is being controlled. And then he went on to say, according to the prince of the power of the air. So the course of this world is according to the prince of the power of the air. The world is not just natural. What’s going on in the world? I mean, we see it today, right, more than ever. Right, all this disinformation, it’s all the devil. He’s a liar from the beginning. He wants to break down every godly structure. He wants to break down every godly frame of reference. He wants to break down every godly foundation. He’s strategic, he’s wanting me to tear it apart. The world’s being controlled by the powers of darkness. And the Lord is allowing a really severe breaking right now because he’s getting ready to return. So listen again. You and I formerly walked before we knew the Lord and were born by God’s spirit. According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit, the same spirit that was controlling us, Paul says of the spirit that is now working, the spirit of the world, the spirit of the air that is now working in the sons of disobedience. So you don’t measure what the world’s doing and take your cues because what the world’s doing is they’re controlled by darkness. And the way that they’re acting reflects those people that are walking in disobedience. So Paul said we used to live in that realm. And that spirit of the world, the spirit of the air that’s controlling the sons of disobedience, it used to control you so you can’t get your mindset and perspective anymore. by looking at the world. He said, among them, these ones that are controlled by the powers of the air, the sons of disobedience, he calls them, among them, we too all formerly lived, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were, listen to this, this is a mind-blowing statement. Paul says, you and I were by nature children of wrath. even as the rest. I want you to consider this. We were dead in our transgressions and sins, Paul said. We were spiritually dead. We were being controlled by the course of this world. the influence that is governing the thoughts of the world, the mindset of the world, the behavior of the world. We are being controlled by that. And he said, and these that are being controlled by that, it’s happening to them because the one that’s controlling the course of this world is the power of the air The scriptures calls him Satan, the God of this world that is now controlling the sons of disobedience. I want you to hear me once again. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, among these sons of disobedience, these ones in the world, they have completely different values. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Remember, Eve looked at the tree. And Satan said to her, hey, if you eat from that tree, it’s gonna make you wise. It was a lust in her mind that she had, I wanna be wise. So people’s ambition, their quest for false knowledge that puffeth up, it’s all due to the course of the world that’s being controlled by the powers of darkness. Paul said you used to live that way, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And I just wanna pause before I say this next line. Paul continues and he says, and we, were by nature, by nature, Paul said, children of wrath, even as the rest. There was nothing different about you and I than everybody else. God did not save us because he saw something better in us than the others. We, just like everybody that doesn’t know God, beloved, those that are living in rebellion against God, those that are even boisterous and loud and rebellious about it, those that are antagonistic towards God, Paul said, we were just like them. We were dead in our trespasses, Paul said, and we were living in the lust of the flesh and of the mind, and were by our very nature children of wrath. What does that mean? That we were not living enlightened lives. That we were not living for God’s glory. We were living for ourselves. We were being fully deceived by the world and the power of the enemy that’s at work in the world. Do you see what God saved you from? When you were dead, God saved you. Let’s continue on. Paul says this exact same thing. We were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, but get the next line, beloved ones, but… God, that’s the next line. You were dead, you were dead in your sin, you were a sinner, you were living in lust, but God, you were by nature a child of wrath, but God, being rich in mercy because of the great love of God. with which he loved you, he made you alive with Christ. You see what I’m saying? You didn’t have anything to do with it. Did Lazarus have anything that he contributed to his resurrection? Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, right? What did Lazarus contribute to his being raised from the dead? Not a thing. He was dead. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t will, he was dead in that tomb. But Jesus said, Lazarus, come forth! and bam, that dead man came to life. That’s what God did for you, and we were dead in our transgressions and sin. By nature, we were hostile towards God, because we were living autonomously from him. That’s what it means to be a child of wrath, to live autonomously from God. to not live as though he’s the center of everything, that he’s the center of our lives, the center of our praise. He’s living for ourselves rather than him. That’s what it means to be a child of wrath because it’s totally out of reality, right? I mean, God’s the creator. Everything was created by him and through him and for him. All the world was created to praise him and give him glory. But you and I, we were living for ourselves. We woke up in the morning, we said to ourselves, what can I do that’ll be fun today, right? We called our friends, we did this, we did that. We were living autonomously from God. We were by nature children of wrath. But listen again. Verse number four, but God, but God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, get it again, but God, because of his great love Even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you’ve been saved. You get what I’m talking about, my friend? You didn’t do anything to contribute to your salvation. God chose you. Yes, you had to exercise faith, but Paul’s gonna go on to say right here, even the faith you have is the gift of God. It’s a gift that you’ve been given. You didn’t do anything to contribute to it. Yes, we work on our salvation in fear and trembling. Every day we pick up our cross, deny ourself and follow him. We’re active participants, but your salvation is a sovereign act and gift of God. So listen to it again. We were dead, but God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Rabbi will be right back. But first, did you know that you can receive real-time encouragement straight from Rabbi through text message? Visit discoveringthejewishjesus.com and click on the link that says Rabbi Text Me. Or you can text the keyword Rabbi to the number 88777. Rabbi sends these special text messages as the Holy Spirit leads, and he looks forward to connecting with you real soon. At the core of everything we do at Discovering the Jewish Jesus is our commitment to declare the whole counsel of God’s Word from start to finish. In fact, Rabbi’s unique way of connecting the Old and the New Testaments has helped people all over the world to understand the Bible with fresh eyes. To join us in this work of God, give a donation online today at discoveringthejewishjesus.com or call 800-777-7835. And now here is Rabbi Schneider.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now listen to the next verse. And we were raised up with them. You’ve been saved and raised up and seated with them in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. so that in all the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. It was a merciful, a merciful act of God to stoop down to save you and I when we were living alienated from him, dead in our transgressions and sins, by nature, children of wrath, but he broke that curse off us and he saved us by grace. You’ve been saved in Jesus. And not only did he save us, but he exalted us. The scripture says here, he raised us up with him He raised us up in Messiah and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This tells you, beloved, who you are. You’ve been exalted in Christ Jesus. You are a winner. We’ve been raised up with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places. Listen, if you’re walking around, and if you’re walking around looking at the ground because you’ve got low self-esteem, you know what you’ve got to do? You’ve got to break that. You’ve got to force yourself to look up. If you can’t look people in the eye because you’re too afraid, you know what? You’ve got to look people in the eye. You’ve got to tell yourself, I’m loved, I’m chosen, I am saved, and here’s the key, and I have been raised up That’s what Paul just got telling us, that we’ve been raised up and have been seated with Christ in heavenly places. You’ve been raised up and seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, he, the Father and Yeshua, might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. You’ve been raised up, seated with Christ in the heavenly places, so that in the ages to come, listen now, in all, this is your future, get this, in all the ages to come, In all your future, you know what’s gonna happen? God is gonna continue to show you and I His grace and His kindness. That’s your future. No matter where you go, no matter what happens to you, you’ve been chosen in Christ, and the rest of your life, God will be showing you His kindness. Listen again, we gotta break fear off us. We’re afraid of the future. What’s gonna happen tomorrow? Here’s what’s gonna happen tomorrow. That in the ages to come, the Lord’s gonna show you the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward you and I in Christ Jesus. That’s your future. That’s why David said, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. So we need to tell ourselves the truth. We need to look up and tell ourselves the truth. We need to participate with God by seizing his word. God’s told us, see, I’m preaching myself happy. I hope you’re getting happy. That our future is bright. Our future is fantastic. Then in all the ages to come, God’s gonna show his kindness towards us. Now listen to the next sentence. For by grace, you have been saved through faith. This gets back to what I was saying a few minutes ago. For by grace you’ve been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. So get what’s going on here. Paul is saying that by grace, what’s grace? It’s undeserved favor. It’s God’s empowerment in our life to be who he’s called us to be, to walk in what he’s called us to walk in. He says, by grace, you’ve been saved through faith, okay? The way that God saved us was by grace through faith. In other words, what connects us to God? Faith. And so a lot of people, they look at faith as a work though. A lot of people, they look at faith as a work, right? Oh, I must believe, I must believe, I must believe, I must believe as if faith doesn’t work. But notice what Paul said. He says, for by grace you’ve been saved through faith and that is not of yourselves. The faith, beloved ones, it’s not of yourselves. It was given to you as a gift. Even your faith is a gift. Because of God’s grace on your life, he supernaturally by the Spirit imparted faith to you. And so listen one more time before we go on. For by grace you’ve been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it’s the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. God did this thing. He created us the first time, and he’s the one that saved us and is recreating us. God is at work in your life, both to will and do for your good pleasure. The book of Titus tells us we’ve been saved not by deeds of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. The next verse in the text. Paul says, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. We’re new creations. We didn’t do it, God did it. He made us a new creation. Even as you didn’t create yourself the first time, you’re not the one that recreated yourself. The Bible says we’re born not by the will of man, nor by the will of the flesh, but by the will of God. You are supernaturally born again. We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in. and so my friends this is an awesome thing we’ve got a brand new life we’ve got a brand new future it’s a brand new day our future is god we’ve been called into light we have exciting things ahead god’s going to use us in the world to bring his light to other people and you and i as we continue to follow him by his grace we’re going to keep on being transformed We’re going to go from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. We’re going to keep getting stronger internally. As we get stronger internally, we’re going to have more joy. As we continue to follow God, we’re going to get further rooted in His peace. And His peace within us will crush Satan’s head under our feet. Jesus said, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, my peace I give to you. Some of us probably heard the phrase before, if we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we’ve always got. In other words, we’ve got to do something different to get different results. And what we’re doing with your help, beloved one, at Discovering the Jewish Jesus is we are pressing the envelope forward to reveal Jesus to the earth as a Jew. We need to help people see him for who he really is. He’s coming back as the lion from the tribe of Judah. He’s the offspring of Abraham, and he’s going to rule the heavenly city, beloved, from a throne in which the Hebraic roots of our faith are going to be shown in all their color. I want to thank you for your financial support in helping us to reveal Jesus to the world, not only as the Savior to the Gentiles, but, beloved, as the Savior to God’s first covenant people, the Jewish people. Through your help, Jewish people are being reached, and as they are, beloved, we are preparing the way for King Jesus’ return.
SPEAKER 03 :
Amen. And as the Lord leads you to support Discovering the Jewish Jesus today, would you go online to discoveringthejewishjesus.com. You can also give when you call us at 800-777-7835. And, you know, we’re really grateful for all of your generous gifts. They help Rabbi’s teaching touch the lives of people not only in your local listening area where you’re listening, but all around the entire world. I’ve seen firsthand the impact this ministry is making in the world. It’s incredible. And you are truly making a difference. And when you give, as a token of our gratitude, we’ll make sure that you receive our latest newsletter. It is full of additional content from Rabbi, his wife, Cynthia, exciting ministry updates and personal correspondence and extra teachings. I believe it’s bound to encourage and inspire you. And then also… I want to let you know, if you’re looking for extra encouragement in your daily spiritual walk this year, then I’d like to let you know you can watch Rabbi’s Messages on Roku television. You can do that right from the comfort of your home or wherever there’s a Roku TV. Just search for Discovering the Jewish Jesus on the Roku TV app. And you can also learn more at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. And while you’re there on our website, don’t forget you can give a gift online or call us to support us at 800-777-7835. And now let’s wrap up today’s message with God’s sacred and special blessing. Rabbi.
SPEAKER 01 :
In the book of Numbers chapter 6, the Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, When you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Receive the impartations of the Lord’s blessings.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again next time when Rabbi Schneider explains why we have to own our own salvation. Learn more Tuesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
